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“Rosie, huh?” he echoes. I shrug, unbothered by his catch of my pet name for her. Katherine has been calling her Rosie almost all along, and I like it.
“You can stay behind if you want?—”
“No,” Rose interjects, stalking from the house. “Either we’re all going, or no one is going. This is a team effort. We made that commitment, right?” She looks around at both of us, and I nod agreeably, as Eli also concedes. “Gran will be along in a minute, too.”
I smile inwardly at her calling Katherine “Gran.” I know the old lady likes it. Over the past few weeks, Katherine has seemed younger, happier. I’ve never seen her look more alive, and my concern for her has shifted into unadulterated affection for Rose.
Our little miracle worker here.
“And she’s onto your plan, Connor,” Rose adds. “I know where we’re going.”
I shrug. I’m not discouraged.
She still doesn’t know about Hudson, and he doesn’t know that we’re coming. He has done his best to keep it a secret from us, but I still have friends on the circuit. Stannich is too small a town for Hudson to pull that off.
We pile into my truck as Katherine makes her way out of the house, Rose and Eli flanking her on either side, even though she tries to swat them away.
“I really do wish you would stop babying me,” Katherine grumbles, but she can’t hide the gleam in her eyes over the attention. She’s been neglected out here for far too long, and now, she has constant company. She’s relishing it, even if she pretends she’s not.
“Miss Katherine can ride up front,” I instruct them.
She flatly refuses. “No, thank you. I’ve seen the way you drive, Connor. I feel much safer in the back, between two solid bodies.”
“Rose can ride up front,” Eli suggests. “I’ll keep Miss Katherine safe in the back.”
The younger woman tries to protest, but I usher everyone in. “We’re wasting precious time,” I complain.
Eli snorts. “Since when are you ever on time for anything?”
I ignore him, and Rose ultimately takes her seat up front, the truck zooming out of Katherine’s property.
“Have you ever been to a real, live rodeo before?” I ask Rose as we’re on our way, my hand slipping off the stick shift to rest on her jeaned knee.
She glances back to see if her grandmother notices, but Katherine is involved in chatter with Eli. She makes no effort to move my hand away. Her own hand covers mine, and she daringly moves it up higher, a pink tinge touching her cheeks.
My grin widens as I eye her expectantly. “Have you?”
“Not once,” she admits. “It sounds like fun.”
“A genuine greenhorn, huh?” I muse, a grin falling over my face.
“It’s a lot of fun.” Eli leans forward through the center console and stares down at my hand on Rose’s upper thigh, the hint of a smile touching his lips. “And if you’re going to live in these parts, you should get used to them. They’re basically a part of life.”
Rose’s face flushes, although I can’t tell if it’s because she’s nervous about my fingers trailing over the inside of her leg.
“We don’t get many rodeos in Seattle.” Her words are a little breathier than normal, and I can’t resist how much that pleases me.
“No, I guess not,” I laugh, steering the truck onto the interstate. “But you’re in for a treat today.”
* * *
The Last Chance Stampede is just getting warmed up at the fairgrounds when we arrive. I purposely arranged for us to arrive early, knowing that Katherine won’t have a lot of juice in her to last the entire day and fight the crowds.
In my late teens and early twenties, I partook in some of these fairs myself, but I’d long since given that up to settle on ranching, the days of bucking and rearing in my rearview.
“Do you ever miss it?” Eli asks as if he’s reading my mind as we wander through the bleachers, loaded with popcorn and beers, looking for a place to sit before the show begins.
“Nah. I’m pushing thirty now,” I laugh. “My back thanks me for bowing out when I did.”
